


The Superkids are Alright

by Peggystormborn



Series: Every Time...A Karamel Anthology [14]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon compliant through end of season 3, F/M, KaraMel, Karamel spent 10 years in the future then came back with their kids, Superhero kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-21 06:52:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16571753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peggystormborn/pseuds/Peggystormborn
Summary: Raising superpowered kids is hard. BEING a superpowered kid might just be harder.Kara and her daughter have an argument, which results in some teenage rebellion...and danger.





	The Superkids are Alright

**Author's Note:**

> This is a flash-forward. Allie is now 15, twins are 13 and John is 11. I sort of structured this family with the Murry family in mind (from Madeleine L'Engle’s Wrinkle in Time series, my favorite books as a child.) And since Meg and Charles Wallace are a tight-knit pair, so are Allie and John here.

 

The Superkids Are Alright

 

You'll understand when you're older,” Kara Zor-El Danvers explains to her eldest child, who is currently mired in a state of teenage huffiness, arms crossed, mirroring her mother's glare.

 

“You've been saying that all my life. When should I expect said understanding to kick in? Age twenty? Thirty? How old are you again, Mom? I mean technically I guess you were born in, like, the late sixties, right? But then with all those years in the future, you're like seventy, aren't you? And Dad's gotta be over ninety, plus the 12,000 years he was asleep, huh? I mean…”

 

“Okay, enough with the attitude. You know you can't just do whatever you want, Allie. We're different than everyone else.”

 

“I'm aware of that, Mom. Obviously. But I'm not talking about trying out for the Olympics, here. I'm not even talking about soccer or track or softball. I’m talking about non-competitive small-town high school cheerleading. I've thought this through. I know my limits. And I know I can do it safely. I don't see what the problem is!”

 

“The problem is what happens when you accidentally basket toss someone into the stratosphere? Or kick one of your squadmates in the face while doing a back handspring and break their jaw?”

 

“But I won't! I've been practicing with Zora and Xander...when they let me, I mean. I know how to control my strength. It's no different than hugging my friends, or giving them high fives, or any of the millions of times I've interacted with fragile human types.”

 

“You've had issues in the past, honey.”

 

“What, when I was four? The airlock on the Legion ship? Really, Mom?”

 

“Have I told you about my junior prom?” Kara switches to kindly let-me-tell-you-a-story mode, hoping a gentler tactic will turn this conversation in her favor.

 

“Yeah, yeah, Scott Klein asked you to dance and you broke his foot. And Dad broke a guy's arm once when he was out drinking with Uncle Winn. Blah, blah, blah.”  Her singsongy tone only serves to ratchet up her mother's annoyance, but she just can't help herself.

 

“Hey! What did I  _ just _ say about the attitude? Also, who told you that about your father?” 

 

“ _ What _ about your father?” Mon-El wonders, sliding the screen door shut, as he enters the house through his usual route: the back door. He hangs his DEO-issued jacket and shoulder bag in the closet and waltzes over to join the conversation, as he fusses with his now-windblown hair, having flown home at speed from a long day of agent-ing and hero-ing.

 

“Halloween? Many beers? Snapped someone's arm like a twig? Ring a bell, Dad?” Allie snarks. 

 

“Hey! I'm with your mother here. I know you're a teenager, honey, but maybe you can crank down the snottiness a few notches, huh?”

 

Allie deflates a little, realizing she's not doing herself any favors here. “Sorry, Dad. I'm just frustrated because I really want to be on the cheerleading squad and Mom says I can't.”

 

“Yeah, with good reason,” the Daxamite counters. “Do you know how awful I felt when I hurt that guy? How lucky I was that it wasn't a whole lot worse? Your powers are no joke, honey. You've always done a good job controlling them, I know, but you've gotten stronger as you've grown. You might  _ keep _ getting stronger, in ways you can't anticipate. And we don't take needless risks with other people's safety.” 

 

Kara looks at her mate and smiles smugly, nodding. “That's exactly right. Plus, you could inadvertently reveal your powers. Floating, using your speed or strength, there are any number of situations where you might slip up.”

 

“Since I was little, when have I  _ ever _ slipped up? When have I  _ ever _ put someone at risk? You're going to have to start trusting me eventually. I'll be an adult in a few years and I'll be doing superhero work of my own, and…”

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa there. Back up. Are you saying you expect to go out there and start saving people as soon as you turn eighteen?” Kara crinkles her brows together, and glances at Mon-El, who now appears to be wearing a similar look of concern. 

 

Allie stops dead, realizing they've never actually had a meaningful discussion on this subject. All her life, her parents have been clear that becoming a hero was a choice available to her.  _ Someday, I'll teach you this, if that's what you want...You'll do amazing things one day, if that's the path you choose… Your powers should only be used for good, if...if...IF.  _ Always IF. 

 

Though for all their hedging, she's consistently read it as more of an expectation. They say IF. But of course they mean WHEN, don't they? 

 

Looking at their faces now, she's suddenly not sure. Don't they want her to follow in their footsteps? Was all that just lip service? If they were serious about her having a choice, shouldn't becoming a legal adult give her the right to  _ make _ that choice?

 

“Why…why shouldn't I become a hero when I'm eighteen?”

 

“Uh, because you'll still be in high school?” Kara replies.

 

“Yeah, plus, if you want to get really technical, you were born in 3045. So you're _actually_ negative 1,016 years old,” her father jibes. Both blondes shoot him matching annoyed stares with their comet-blue eyes, and he clamps his mouth shut. 

 

“If I'm grown up, why shouldn't I get to decide what I want to do with my life?” Allie protests. 

 

“Honey, nothing is going to magically happen on your eighteenth birthday to make you ready to do the kind of things we do. Besides, what about college?”

 

“What about it? You guys have jobs and lives as heroes. I can still help people while getting an education. I just...I don't understand. Why aren't you happy about me wanting to dedicate my life to helping others? To be like YOU?!” the teenage alien all of a sudden feels like walls are closing in, siphoning away this dream she'd had of how her life would be. It suddenly dawns on her how much she's had her heart set on this, how much earning her own cape means to her. 

 

They've got it all backwards here, don't they? Aren't teenagers supposed to rebel  _ against _ walking the path of their parents? Aren't they supposed to want to strike out on their own, and carve a place in the world that's just theirs? And here she is, trying to take on their mantle, based on their example. How can they possibly be fighting her on this? 

 

“Allie, we came back here from the future for you and your sister and brothers. To protect you, sure, but also so that you could have a normal life. A normal childhood,” Kara implores. 

 

“Yeah, and when I'm eighteen I won't  _ be _ a child any more,” Allie argues. 

 

“But going to college, earning a degree, having all the experiences that come along with that...it's something we don't want you to miss out on. You shouldn't be distracted. We can start talking about training you when you graduate, how's that? I mean, don't forget your mother and I didn't start doing this until we were well into our twenties,” Mon-El explains.

 

“First of all, Dad, you didn't even go to college. Not Earth college anyway. And second, maybe you guys  _ should _ have started sooner! Cousin Clark did. He told me he started saving people when he was MY age!”

 

Kara exhales, exasperated. “And he made some mistakes back then, I think he'll agree. As for us, your Dad didn't arrive on this planet until he was 25. And I…”

 

“You what? What were you doing that was so important, Mom? Getting coffee for your boss? Going on bad first dates? Sitting on your couch eating Chinese food when you could have been out there saving lives? I've heard your origin story plenty of times. I mean, how long  _ would _ you have waited if Aunt Alex hadn't been on that plane?”

 

“Hey! Watch it, young lady!” Kara fumes as Mon-El puts on his  _ uh-oh _ face and starts wracking his brain for a way to diffuse the situation. Rao knows it can get ugly when these two big-hearted but hard-headed Kryptonian women go toe to toe. He's seen it before. 

 

“Oookay, why don't we all just take a deep breath, here?” he suggests, tentatively. 

 

“Gosh, can't do that, Dad. Too risky. Might accidentally blow the house down like the Big Bad Wolf, right Mom? Since I can't be trusted with my own powers.”

 

“ENOUGH. There will be NO cheerleading. And NO superheroing. Is that clear?” Kara puts her foot down literally, nearly cracking the hardwood. 

 

“Yup. Suuuuuper clear. You guys got to decide for yourselves, but I don't. Totally fair.”

 

“You'll understand…”

 

“...When I'm older. Sure, Mom. Whatever you say.” And with that, the fifteen year old Daxatonian stalks away to her room, slamming the door hard enough to make Mon-El wonder if he'll need to make a trip to the hardware store for some new hinges. 

 

Kara slumps her shoulders, and turns to nestle her head against her husband's chest. He wraps his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. 

 

“She'll be okay,” he coos. 

 

“I hope so.”

 

Just then, a distinctive alarm sounds from the vicinity of Kara's writing desk in their study. 

 

The interdimensional extrapolator device gifted to her by her Earth Prime friends. 

 

“Uh, oh,” they say in unison. 

 

********

 

“Honey?” Kara says as she raps on her eldest daughter's bedroom door. “Look, I know you're upset right now. But Dad and I have to go to Earth Prime for a bit. There's a giant mosquito or...something. Hopefully just overnight, but if it goes longer, then Grandma Eliza is gonna pick you and John up and take you to her house, okay? John should be home from Choir practice soon, and Zora and Xander are gonna be camping with Grampa Jeremiah for a few more days, so you won't have to worry about them. And you can always call Aunt Alex or Winn or Clark or James if you need anything. There's some cash on top of the fridge if you want to order a pizza. Okay?…Okay, honey? Can you at least answer me so I know you haven't run off to the Fortress or something?”

 

“Fine, Mom. Pizza. Got it,” comes the muffled reply. 

 

“All right. See you tomorrow. I love you,” Kara sighs, hoping against hope for an “I love you too” in return. She's met with only silence. Dejectedly, she turns away and skulks back downstairs. She finds her husband waiting there to open the portal that will take them to Star Labs, where her speedster BFF and his team are waiting for their assistance dealing with some sort of massive alien insect creature. She's praying it's less horrifying than what she's picturing in her mind, specifically the Cloverfield monster (WHY did she let Alex talk her into watching that movie?) 

 

She takes a deep breath, grabs Mon-El’s hand, and steps through the breach. 

 

Allie, up in her room, hears the brief whoosh of the portal opening and closing, and sighs with relief when she realizes she's got the house to herself for a little while. 

 

...A _very_ little while. 

 

She's only managed to squeeze in about twenty minutes of online Ixfar, which her younger twin siblings in their genius have managed to create and market based on the Daxamite game taught to them by their Uncle Elt (though hardly a worldwide phenomenon, it's brought in some extra income which Kara and Mon-El happily deposited into the kids’ college fund) when she hears her youngest brother's voice from downstairs. 

 

“Mom? Dad? Anyone here?”

 

Allie grumpily drags herself up from reclining on her bed and trudges down to explain to John where everyone is. 

 

“Oh, hey, Allie. Are Mom and Dad off fighting the fires?” he asks.

 

“No, they took off for Earth Prime for a bit. Wait, what fires?” 

 

“Look!” John says, turning on the TV. Sure enough, images of raging infernos are on every news station. “I just heard about it while I was on the bus home. There was a freak storm up north, lots of lightning, and since it was so dry dozens of wildfires cropped up all at once.”

 

“Oh my God! Is Cousin Clark out there putting them out?” 

 

“Yeah, but it's spreading fast and there's tons of them over a large area. He's powerful but he's only one person. Allie...a lot of people live up there. We should call Mom and Dad.”

 

“How? I'm pretty sure my cell phone doesn't connect to parallel universes. Besides, they're fighting some kind of giant beastie. They're needed there.”

 

“What about Uncle Eltro?”

 

“He and Papa J'onn are on Mars for the inauguration.” Mars, after years of infighting, had finally succeeded in holding democratic elections which vaulted the Martian Reform Party to power. M'Gann, now Deputy High Commander of the new government, had invited her good friends to join in the dawn of what they hoped would be a new era for the planet. 

 

John chewed his bottom lip with concern. “Oh, man. I hope Fire and Rescue can handle it. Sucks there aren't more supers on our Earth.”

 

Allie tilts her head with a look of determination, staring at the destruction on the screen. “There are, though.”

 

“What do you mean? Who else is there besides our parents, Uncle Elt, Papa J'onn and Cousin Clark on this Earth?”

 

Allie turns to face her brother. “There's us.”

 

“Umm...no. Don't even think about it. Mom and Dad would both have a stroke and you and I would be grounded so long we'd never see the yellow sun again.”

 

“They'll never know! We'll fly up, save some folks, put out as many fires as we can, and fly home!”

 

John turns back to face the television as he side-eyes his sister. “Isn't the oldest kid supposed to be the responsible one and the youngest the troublemaker?”

 

“What trouble? We're both invulnerable to the fire, and we're the perfect team! I have flight, strength, speed and cold breath, and you have superhearing and x-ray vision!” It was true. While their twin siblings had so far demonstrated little in the way of powers other than indestructibility and the occasional bout of excessive strength (nor had they been particularly interested, preferring human pursuits like, say, app development), Allie and John together had more or less the makings of one complete superhero. Minus heat vision, which wouldn't likely be necessary for firefighting anyway. 

 

“Allie, listen to yourself. Neither of us has fully come into our powers. And we've never been trained to do anything like this. It's crazy!”

 

“John, think about it. The bottom line here is people could get hurt. Or killed, even. You and I are the only powered people left other than Clark, and I don't think he can do this alone.”

 

John sighs, picks up the remote, and turns off the TV. “Okay. But we stay as far from Clark as possible, and back before dawn, got it?”

 

“Agreed.”

 

“Okay. Let's go. Wait, what do we wear? I don't think I have any asbestos clothing.”

 

“Ha, ha,” Allie rolls her eyes, then stops, contemplating his question. “Actually, I'm not sure. Let's just throw on something thick and cotton. You have a jean jacket right?”

 

“Yeah.” 

 

“Well, put that on over jeans and a hoodie and we'll just hope for the best.”

 

“Yeah, sis, I think I'm gonna be doing a lot of that tonight.”

 

********

 

“Last report said Cousin Clark was pretty far east of here, near the Yima Foothills. So let's start with the western-most flare-ups,” John says as they fly in, staring at the maps on his phone. 

 

They land on the periphery of an exurban subdivision. John uses his hearing to find a few stragglers who haven't yet evacuated, including one family desperately searching for their dog. He locates the dog, hiding under a nearby barn, and sees them to safety, while his sister approaches the encroaching flames and starts extinguishing them with her cold breath. 

 

The first few hours go pretty smoothly, dividing the labor according to their respective abilities. John can't speed reliably, but his superhuman eyes and ears are enough to enable him to assist evacuees without anyone realizing he has powers, and Allie goes undiscovered by staying in the thick of the smoke, though she's going to have to take a very long shower when she's done to wash the smell of the fire away. 

 

Around 5am, John checks the latest reports on his phone and realizes that between their efforts, the human firefighting efforts on the ground, and Superman dealing with the flames elsewhere, the majority of the fires are now out. And the ones remaining look to be far from settled areas, nothing that can't be managed with water. Plus, the weather report forecasts a chance of scattered showers in the next few hours, which should at least help keep the flames from spreading.

 

“I gotta hand it to you, Allie. You were right,” John admits. “I really think we saved a lot of people today. Or at least their houses.”

 

“Told you! Team Danvers!” the big sister holds up her hand expectantly, while John rolls his eyes and gives her a begrudging high-five. 

 

“Let's get home, I think we've done as much as we can reasonably do. And it's almost morning. Grandma Eliza is going to call soon, and who knows _when_ Mom and Dad will be back.  Besides, Superman is getting closer to our location. Ha, bet he's wondering how a dozen separate forest blazes all went out on their own!”

 

“Wait…there's one more flare up not too far from here. Let's just take care of it real quick.”

 

“Ugh, fine. THEN home.”

 

“Yeah, of course.” Allie smiles smugly, thinking about how dismissive her parents were about her abilities.  _ Can't control myself, huh? Not ready to be a hero, is that it? _ She almost wishes her mother could see her now, standing up to the inferno and beating the raging fires into submission. Just like Supergirl. She  _ almost _ wishes that…except for the fact that her mother wouldn't be proud right now. She'd be furious. 

 

Yeah, definitely home right after this last brushfire. 

 

The area is pretty desolate, mostly wooded with almost no human structures nearby, and Allie goes to work around the circumference of the fire, slowly turning the landscape from hellish flaming brimstone to smoldering, smoking ash. With no one to rescue, John plays lookout for firefighters. Or for Superman. Until he spots something a ways down the fireline. 

 

“Allie! Look! There's an old warehouse over there,” John notices. “The fire is getting pretty close to it. We should hurry.”

 

They rush over, as Allie begins to extinguish the flames close to the building. Standing in front of an old rusty tank of some sort, she's just putting out the worst of the blaze, including a very large,  very old-looking oak tree, when brother taps her on the shoulder. 

 

“Allie… There's something weird about this building.” John is utilizing his x-ray vision on the structure, which appears to be built above a large, heavily fortified underground bunker. 

 

Allie, distracted by her brother's investigation, walks away without noticing the wind picking up, causing the smoldering embers of the oak tree to re-ignite. 

 

They enter the warehouse, which looks pretty normal at first. Old machinery, cardboard boxes strewn about, and a card table and chair, upon which sits...a brand-new tablet computer. 

 

“That's weird. This place looks like no one's been here in years. Where did this come from?” John asks. Allie shrugs and touches the screen. 

 

“No, don't!” John shouts, as the screen comes to life. Suddenly, a smiling, bald-headed face is staring at them. 

 

“Welcome to LuthorCorp. Authorization code, please,” the kindly face asks expectantly. 

 

“Allie…” John starts, suddenly fearful. He looks downward, grabs up one of the shards of old cardboard littering the floor, and holds it up. 

 

“LuthorCorp, LLC” reads the logo on the side.

 

“We should get out of here,” Allie decides, as John nods. They start towards the door, when…

 

BOOM!

 

The far wall of the structure collapses, bringing most of the ceiling down with it. Smoke fills the room as Allie clutches her sibling, shielding him from the falling rubble. She screams as a beam falls, crashing through the floor they stand on. It gives way, and they plummet into the basement. For a few more moments, all she senses is darkness, falling, smoke, and the feeling of debris and dust raining down on them as she holds John tightly in her steel grip. When she looks up, they're encased in an air pocket, surrounded by mangled metal and chunks of concrete. 

 

“What happened?” she asks. John looks up in the general direction of the blast, using his powers to see through the ground and rubble. 

 

He coughs as he answers. “The tank…the one outside. That tree fell on it, and it exploded.”

 

Allie begins coughing as well. “Oh…well, no worries...I can...get us out…” Raspy coughs punctuate every phrase as she speaks, and it dawns on her that coughing isn't something the two of them normally do on Earth.

 

She grips the slab of concrete immediately above them, pushing with all her might. 

 

It won't budge. 

 

“Allie…how old...was that tank…” John barely gets out, his breathing labored. 

 

“I... don't know…decades at least…why is that... important?”

 

“Because...a long time ago...gasoline…used to contain...lead…”

 

They look at each other, panic-stricken, realizing the reason for their mutual coughing fit. The smoke they're inhaling contains traces of lead. 

 

“Oh Rao…but we're…only half Daxamite…it shouldn't kill us…right?” Allie wonders, voice shaky even through all the hacking.

 

“I don't think so, but sis…my powers…are fading in…and out…” he glances back at the decimated tank, and sees it coming in and out of focus. 

 

“Mine too...I can't lift the rubble…”

 

“Allie, we need help!”

 

“No! Mom and Dad...will kill us! We can do this...look...can you squeeze through the gap...between those two chunks of...concrete?”

 

“Yeah…maybe…” John shimmies up through the space, where he realizes his sister is right. There's a slight wafting of less-smoky air, which hopefully means there's an escape. 

 

For half an hour, they use Allie's brief bursts of power to move detritus and navigate out of their hole. Finally, filthy and weary, they emerge from the underside of a tortured-looking section of corrugated aluminum, into fresh air. They see sunlight on the horizon. Just enough to notice a car pulling up on the far side of the property. 

 

“Oh, no...hide!” Allie whispers. There's nowhere to go, not without speed. So they shove themselves back under the aluminum, which presumably was once part of the wall. 

 

At length, footsteps approach.

 

“Dad, I'm sure there's no one here,” a voice pierces the silence. Allie and John try desperately to control their breathing and stifle their coughing until the visitors depart. 

 

“Can't be too careful, my boy. We don't want Superman sniffing about here.”

 

“He's off saving people. He's not gonna bother with some old abandoned building.”

 

“You don't know him like I do. You can't underestimate him.”

 

“If you say so. What a mess, though. I knew we should have drained that old tank.”

 

“Doesn't matter. I'll send some drones in to retrieve the important components from the lab.”

 

_ LAB _ ?!

 

“You think anyone's under there? The alert I got said the system was touch-activated,” the younger man says.

 

“Probably just a glitch caused by the explosion. And if not, whoever did it is buried under all that. Either way, I'm not too concerned.”

 

“All right, I'll call the drones in.”

 

The children hear a strange ticking noise and suddenly a small swarm of mechanical spiders descends upon the remains of the structure, working their way in under what's left of the wall, about fifteen yards from their location. From their vantage point they can just see them rushing in, and Allie is suddenly reminded of the second Harry Potter movie, where Ron and Harry fight a massive throng of arachnids. As best he can, John makes note of the path of the robo-spiders through the rubble, in brief flashes. They're getting closer. Ten yards, five yards. Oh, no…

 

“Hi, Lex. Long time,” a familiar voice rings out. “And this is your son, is it? Does he go by Lex? Alex? Or do you just call him Junior?”

 

_ Superman _ .  _ Thank Rao. _

 

There's a long pause. 

 

“...Junior. And yes, it has been a while, hasn't it?”

 

“I take it there's something under that big pile of junk you don't want me to see?”

 

“...Or something you don't want me to unleash right now.”

 

Another long silence. 

 

Superman takes a deep breath. “Well, tell you what, Lex? I propose a detente.”

 

“A detente?”

 

“Just until I get these kids here home. The ones trapped under that wall.” 

 

“Ah. I see.” There's a slight change in the tenor of Lex Luthor's voice as he realizes he actually has the upper hand in this situation. “All right, Superman. You rescue whoever needs rescuing, and we'll just go our separate ways. Sound good?”

 

“All right. But I'll be back. Soon. And I'm a pretty fast guy, you know.”

 

“I'm well aware.”

 

The Kryptonian reaches down and lifts the aluminum under which Allie and John have been hiding. Despite knowing they were somewhere nearby, Luthor appears slightly startled by their immediate presence. He watches them carefully as Superman drags them each out. 

 

“Where did you kids come from, anyway? You look a bit familiar…” the younger Luthor calls out at them. Allie suddenly realizes she's been staring at Lex Jr., and he's been staring back. Right into her comet-blue eyes. He's not bald and intimidating like his father. In fact, he looks pretty normal. Brown hair, brown eyes, dimpled cheeks with a few stray freckles here and there. A couple years older than Allie, she suspects, despite his baby face. He's...cute, actually. Oddly. If this were a normal boy in a normal social situation, she would be mortified at her appearance right now, in a ragged, filthy hoodie, hair and face caked with dirt, dust and copious amounts of soot. 

 

“They're just a couple of kids who shouldn't have been here,” Superman snaps, before either of the children can answer. 

 

“Until we meet again, Kryptonian.” The elder Luthor snarls. Superman wraps his arms around the youngsters and takes to the sky. 

 

None of them say anything on the flight home, until he's depositing them on the porch. He sits them on the swing near the door, and paces for a moment as they await their sentence. 

 

“I don't suppose I need to explain how much danger you were both just in.”

 

They shake their heads. 

 

“Anything could have been in that bunker. Anything. Kryptonite, another lead device, any number of horrific weapons. As it was with the lead smoke I could hardly see you. You're lucky I'm pretty attuned to your heartbeats.”

 

“We're sorry,” Allie explains ruefully, tearing up. “We just wanted to help. Everyone else is gone and…”

 

“I know why you did it. I get that you were trying to help. And you did.”

 

“We did?” John pipes in. 

 

“Yeah, as ridiculously stupid and reckless as you were tonight, I have to admit, people are alive who wouldn't be if it weren't for you.”

 

The siblings look at each other, a little hope growing in their hearts. 

 

“But let me be clear. You screwed up. You left home without permission. No one knew where you were, or what you were doing. And you got lucky. I don't just mean with the Luthors. What if you'd made a mistake with your powers and gotten some innocent person hurt or killed?”

 

“It's not John's fault, I dragged him into this,” Allie laments. “I was responsible for him...and I got us in over our heads. I was just…”

 

“You were angry at your mother. Yeah, she told me about the fight. That's the only reason I was able to find you guys, by the way. I knew you were alone so I came to check on you when the showers started and the fires started winding down. When you weren't at home I deduced what you must have been up to. Forest fires don't usually put themselves out, you know. It took me the better part of an hour to locate you. You're damn lucky I got there in the nick of time.”

 

Cousin Clark never curses, ever. Even tamer words like “damn” hardly ever cross his lips, so the children know he's livid right now. Allie and John both startle at the sound of the word. 

 

“Clark, I…” Allie starts. He raises one finger, indicating she should be quiet. He turns to them.

 

“Stand up.” The children jump to their feet like little soldiers at attention. Superman looks them both up and down.

 

“Your lungs look okay now. And you're not coughing any more, that's good. The sun's up, so that's probably helped your bodies expel whatever lead was in there. I think you're going to be physically okay at least.”

 

He just stares at them both for another few moments as they squirm internally. 

 

“Are you going back to investigate the Luthors? Your told him you'd be right back.”

 

“I just said that in the hopes they'll rush through their cleanup and leave something behind by mistake. But it doesn't matter. Whatever bad thing they were hiding will have been removed by now. I'll check it out later to see if there are any clues.”

 

“We're sorry…”

 

“At least now I know they're up to something.” He exhales,  exasperated. “Go get washed up. Now.”

 

He doesn't have to ask twice. They rush upstairs and each take their turn in the shower. Allie goes second, and has to shampoo four times to get all the blackness out of her flowing blond locks. The water goes cold before she finishes, and at long last she emerges, towels herself off and puts on some clean clothes. Her hair she speed-dries by levitating gently then spinning rapidly in a circle. It's a small relief to know her powers are operational again. She dresses and exits her room to see that John has already thrown their grubby duds in the laundry, though she suspects the jeans and jackets may be a lost cause. Clean and sporting new outfits, they trudge back down the stairs where their cousin sits in his supersuit, cape draped over the couch cushions, reading an old copy of Catco magazine from the coffee table. He bids them to sit down on the chairs across from him. 

 

“I called Eliza. Told her I'm watching you, so she doesn't worry. I'll take you over there when I leave if your parents still aren't back. Now listen. I'm angry, with both of you. But the more I think about it, the more I feel like part of this may be my fault. I've spent your whole lives telling you about my teenage escapades. But…I never tell you the bad parts. The parts where I messed up. I was all alone then. At least as an alien, that is.  I mean, my parents were human, and they did their best. But they had no idea how to help me through all the changes, or tell me what to expect. I didn't understand my powers, and was unprepared every time some new ability manifested or got stronger. You guys don't have to do all that alone, understand? That's what parents are for. And yours know the drill. They know their limitations and challenges. I was lucky as a kid, the way you guys were lucky today. I never hurt anyone, not badly anyway. But there were close calls. Very close. It took me a long time to master my powers.” He takes a deep breath before continuing. 

 

“But…you're right, I think. You should start training now. You're ready for some supervised hero-ing. At least that's what I believe. Of course, I'm not your father, and it's not my decision to make. But I'll talk to your parents. I feel confident we can come up with some kind of compromise here.”

 

“Clark? That's…really awesome of you, but I'm pretty sure our parents will never let us leave the house again after they find out about this," John says.

 

Superman considers this, and scratches the side of his chin as he leans back against the couch cushions. 

 

Just then, a breach opens and Supergirl and Valor step through, hand in hand in their suits. They look slightly surprised to see Clark on the couch. 

 

“Oh! Hey, cous. What are you doing here?.”

 

“I…was just in the neighborhood so I thought I'd stop by and spend some time with them. They were great company. I was just going to take them to have breakfast with Eliza.”

 

Allie and John look at each other, then at Superman, who surreptitiously winks at them. 

 

“That's sweet of you. How about we all go over?”

 

“Actually, now that you're here, I thought we might have a friendly chat real quick. Guys, why don't you get a head start over to your grandmother and we'll catch up?” Clark asks. “Save some pancakes for us, okay?”

 

The children, shoulders melting with the relief of knowing their lives aren't about to be annihilated, happily nod and kiss their parents before speeding off. 

 

“Okay…so what actually happened, Clark?” Kara wonders. 

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Poker faces don't run in our family. And all three of you had a guilty look just now. Also, this whole house reeks of smoke.”

 

“Honestly? I'm not sure you want to know, Kara. Although heads up...I _think_ Allie might have a tiny crush on Lex Luthor Junior.”

 

“Say what now?” Mon-El asks as both he and Kara's eyes widen.

 

“Everything's okay. We had a good talk. Lessons were learned. And...I think your should reconsider the whole Cheerleading thing. Allie is…pretty good at physical control of her powers. It's her judgment on other things that I think is the real issue. But, so goes it with teenagers.”

 

“We…talked about it while we were gone and kind of came to that same conclusion,” Kara says, looking at her husband, who has been more or less frozen since the name Luthor dropped.

 

“Ah. Well, good. I…also think they should start training as heroes now. Ease into it. In a supervised setting. Otherwise…”

 

“...Otherwise they're going to go off and try things on their own like whatever nonsense they got into tonight?” Kara asks. 

 

“Yeah. And for the record, they were idiots tonight. But they were idiots who saved a bunch of lives. So that should probably count for something.”

 

Kara sighs. “Okay. New rule,” she says. “Training starts at fifteen. We'll work with Allie and then the rest of them as they get older and develop their powers.”

 

“Wow. I was expecting more of a fight on this.”

 

“Well, I'm exhausted from battling an enormous six-legged creature which was somehow even  _ more _ terrifying than the Cloverfield monster. And someone here reminded me that I, too, was young once. So, I tried to see things from her perspective.”

 

“You're a good Mom, Kara.”

 

“Thanks, Clark. Now, for real, how upset would I be if I knew the details of their little overnight adventure?”

 

“Honestly? Extremely.”

 

Kara rubs the bridge of her nose, trying not to speculate further. “Well, thanks for looking out for them. And we won't tell them you said anything. I want them to have another adult they can trust and feel comfortable turning to when they're in trouble.”

 

“Well. My thanks to you, then. Shall we go grab breakfast?” Clark takes his cousin's arm and walks her toward the door. 

 

Mon-El stands there frozen for a moment, watching them walk away. 

 

“Uhm, excuse me,  _ LEX LUTHOR JUNIOR _ ?!” he calls after them. “Are we not gonna circle back to that?”

 

“After breakfast, love. We haven't eaten in over twelve hours. That's like a week and a half for me.”

 

Her Daxamite husband sighs, resigned, and follows them to the skies. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Haven't decided if I want to make Allie and Lex Jr. A Thing. Would be possibly an interesting Romeo and Juliet type theme, mirroring Kara and Mon. I'll think about it.


End file.
